


Birthday Wishes

by MeteoraWrites



Category: Fear the Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Birthday Party, Fluff, Jake Otto is a good brother, M/M, Nick Clark is a good boyfriend, Trick Flufffest 2k19, Troy Otto is a big softie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 17:49:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18945877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeteoraWrites/pseuds/MeteoraWrites
Summary: There are a handful of life experiences that Nick believes a person should absolutely get to have no matter who they are. First crush? Obviously. First kiss? Hell yeah. Staying out all night with your friends being idiots? Of course. Hell, even stupid stuff like getting sick on bad movie theater popcorn and too much candy! Everyone should do that at least once in their life.The biggest thing on that list, which never even occurred to Nick as being on said list until he realized someone could go without it, is that everyone should get to have at least one damn birthday party in their lifetime. And it turns out that one Troy Otto has never had a birthday party. Ever.





	Birthday Wishes

**Author's Note:**

> As requested by gutsandroses
> 
> Sorry it took me a bit to write, wifey. The muses were being bitches about it

There are a handful of life experiences that Nick believes a person should absolutely get to have no matter who they are. First crush? Obviously. First kiss? Hell yeah. Staying out all night with your friends being idiots? Of course. Hell, even stupid stuff like getting sick on bad movie theater popcorn and too much candy! Everyone should do that at least once in their life.

The biggest thing on that list, which never even occurred to Nick as being on said list until he realized someone could go without it, is that everyone should get to have at least one damn birthday party in their lifetime. And it turns out that one Troy Otto has never had a birthday party. Ever. Jake apparently got to have them until his mom died, but his dad didn’t think they were worth the time and stopped throwing them after that.

So, of course, that meant when little Troy came along there were no more birthdays being celebrated in the Otto household. Not a single one. Apparently, they got told happy birthday and MAYBE Troy’s mom would make pancakes that morning. Maybe. It was a toss-up later on after she started drinking.

With that bit of gained knowledge, Nick started to formulate a plan. Because according to Jake, Troy’s birthday is that weekend, and he won’t be back until the day of thanks to his current trade run to the bazaar. They need a few days to set down a solid agreement with the people they’re meeting with. Plenty of time to throw his plan into motion.

He starts with decorations. It turns out that the “bible study group” has a surplus of decorative lights and lanterns in their secret bunker hideout. Alicia promises to get a bunch to string up around the mess area. After getting that settled next comes sweet talking Karen who is head of cooking for said mess area into baking a birthday cake.

It doesn’t take long to convince others to help. Everyone loves a party and the birth of their second in command is good enough a reason as any. So people start bringing out decorative table cloths for the picnic tables, colorful jars to put candles in, a few people dig out instruments to play some live music. 

It’s honestly more than Nick would have dared hope for. He was just going to ask Jake to loan him the record player he spotted in their house and throw on a couple of records he found in an old partially burned out building a few weeks back.

Two days later finds Jake keeping watch at the gate while most of the community pretends everything is normal. Except for Nick and a few select members of the militia, who are putting the final touches on the mess area.

Karen baked a big enough cake and enough cupcakes to feed the whole community, not to mention her and several others cooked enough food to feed a small army. This whole side of the ranch smells amazing. And the paper lanterns and fairy lights are ready to be lit the moment Troy arrives. They even found one of those shiny rainbow banners that spell out Happy Birthday to hang off the edge of one of the canopies that protect the food.

Nick’s radio chirps just as he and the others are puttering around fixing the final details. Making sure everything is perfect. The chirp is their signal, Troy is at the gate and currently being told to meet up with Jake at the mess tent for dinner and to debrief him on how the trade went.

“Alright everybody, he’s here! Places!” Jake orders loudly and claps his hands to get everyone to listen. It works and everyone scatters to their respective hiding places. Only Jake and Nick stay out in the open, standing so they’re the first thing Troy sees and hopefully serving as a momentary distraction.

Jake and Nick trade grins as they wait for the younger Otto to arrive, both resisting the urge to shout too soon as the brunet appears around the corner of one of the barracks and spots them with a wave.

“Hey, what’s goin’ on? I thought we were supposed to meet up at the house when I got back?” Troy asks, tone clearly perplexed but not bothered by the change of setting from their usual meeting place.

Just as Troy’s eyes start to wander Nick shouts. “Now!” And everyone pops out of their hiding places, lights flickering on to cast the open area between the tents and picnic tables in a warm multi-colored glow. 

Troy actually jumps at the sudden outburst from all sides and stares slackjawed as everyone on the ranch shouts, “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” in unison.

Troy’s face shifts between confusion, shock, and sheer stunned amazement in mere seconds. And it makes Nick want to laugh and kiss him stupid all at once. “Surprise,” he says with a small smile once Troy looks at him again after taking in the setting around him.

“Did you…?” the older man asks, still looking a bit dazed.

“Jake told me you’d never had a birthday. Everyone deserves to have a birthday, man. Even just once.” The smile the spreads across Troy’s face makes the effort all worth it. 

“SPEECH!” Someone in the crowd of residents shouts, making a few people cheer and echo the request.

Jake and Nick trade looks before looking back to Troy, who rolls his eyes before raising his voice to be heard by the others. “Alright! I’m not one for parties, but then again I’ve never been to a real one, so with that in mind I wanna thank you all for pulling this off. I appreciate it. But don’t think just ‘cause we’re having a party that you can all slack off tomorrow!”

There’s a chorus of cheers that make Nick laugh and Troy huffs in response before the crowd starts to mill about getting food and drinks as the buzz of chit-chat fills the air.

A moment later Nick steps up and wraps an arm around Troy’s waist, a mischevious look in his eyes as he pulls his boyfriend close. “Happy birthday, Troy.”

Troy wraps an arm around Nick’s shoulders and presses a kiss to his forehead before starting to drag the slightly shorter man towards the tables full of food. “Thanks, Nicky… Hey they aren’t going to sing or anything like that, are they?”

Snorting, Nick shakes his head. “I have no clue, man. There is going to be a band, though. And cake. Karen baked enough to feed the militia three times over.”

That get’s Troy pausing and bringing a hand up to train fingers across the left side of Nick’s jaw, making him turn his head to face Troy, who presses a soft kiss to his lips before letting his forehead rest against Nick’s a moment. “Thank you.”

Nick resists the urge to snort or make any other kind of sound in response, just kisses Troy again before nodding in the direction of the food. “Let’s go before they take all the good stuff.”

That get’s Troy moving, hand slipping from around Nick’s shoulder down to lace their hands together as he leads the way.

The next hour is full of chatter, good food, and music. They do sing happy birthday, and Troy pretends to be annoyed by it, but Jake and Nick know better. He loves it. Even them making him blow out a single candle on his piece of cake.

By the end of the night, everyone is pleasantly stuffed and exhausted. The music dies down and people start to shuffle off to their respective homes, waving goodnight to one another and wishing Troy a happy birthday one last time before they make their retreat.

Troy climbs into bed with Nick that night with a tired smile still plastered to his face. Even as they curl up together and fall asleep Nick can feel it where Troy’s mouth is pressed to the side of his head as Nick rests his head on the other man's shoulder.

“G’night, Nicky. N’ thanks again…” Troy mumbles just before dozing off.

Nick doesn’t reply, just drifts off with a small smile of his own a moment later. They both dream of a life together where they can celebrate birthdays and anniversaries and all the other important but little things this world has to offer. Though neither wakes feeling like they’re missing out on anything as long as they have each other.


End file.
